"Love is Not All: It is Not Meat Nor Drink," a Sonnet by Edna St. Vincent Millay - Explicated

Love is Not All
"Love is Not All: It is Not Meat Nor Drink," a sonnet by Edna St. Vincent Millay, uses contrast and mood change as an effective tool to consider a thought. The work is similar to Italian or Petrarchan sonnet; it is divided into two parts, an octet followed by a sestet. However the rhythm scheme does not follow the Italian form. In the first portion of the poem the octet is a continuous statement from the first line to the eighth line. The octet has the abab, cdcd, rhythm scheme. The persona conveys what things love is not in the first six lines. The persona states the attributes that love lacks; that it cannot protect, shelter, or nourish the human body. We think we know where the poem is going; then there is a sharp contrast between lines one through six and lines seven and eight. It is lines seven and eight that are probably the most salient lines in the poem.
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